Most prior art vending machines dispense their items, such as candy or gum, into a cup on the machine which can be contacted and thus potentially contaminated by a user's hand. Some prior art machines employing such cups are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,452,822, 5,782,378, 5,833,117 and 5,897,022. The inventor herein has discerned that likely there are many potential users who would prefer an alternative way for items to be dispensed from vending machines, such as having the item dropped directly into a user's hand and not into a cup, so that the dispensed item cannot be contaminated through contact with parts of the vending machines which also can be contaminated by users.
Consequently, a need exists for an innovation which will provide a solution to the aforementioned problem of prior art vending machines without introducing any new problems in place thereof.